In general, cleaning a patient's teeth is accomplished using a dentifrice or prophylaxis preparation applied via a right angle dental attachment operatively coupled to a standard dental hand piece. Currently, a disposable prophy angle is employed for the right angle attachment in an effort to solve the problems of transmitting fluid borne diseases between subsequent patients as well as reducing costs associated with sterilization. The prophy angle supports a prophy cup at one end and rotates the prophy cup through a system of gears disposed within the prophy angle. In turn, the system of gears is driven via a shaft which extends out of the other end of prophy angle and which is operatively coupled between the gears and a pneumatically actuated motor in the hand piece.
In operation, the rotating prophy cup of the prophy angle is used to apply the dentifrice preparation to the patient's teeth during the prophylaxis procedure for removing accumulated plaque, tartar and stain off the teeth. The dentifrice preparation is typically carried to the teeth by first dipping the prophy cup into a nearby, sometimes finger worn, individual container of the dentifrice preparation, scooping out a desired amount of the dentifrice preparation therefrom, and placing dentifrice filled prophy cup into the patient's mouth. Once therein, the motor is pneumatically actuated and the rotating prophy cup containing the dentifrice preparation is placed onto and moved along the teeth thereby resulting in the dentifrice preparation dissipating and invariably forming a slurry like substance with the patient's saliva and sometimes blood and tissue particles which migrates or attaches along the surface of the rotating cup from which it is flung into the surrounding environment as contaminated splatter. When the cup is within the patient's mouth, the contaminated splatter is typically contained. However, during this prophylaxis procedure the cup is repeatedly stopped, removed from the patient's mouth, dipped into the nearby, sometimes finger worn, individual container of dentifrice preparation for scooping out a further amount of the dentifrice preparation, carried back to the teeth, and then restarted.
This repeated procedure is not only laborious and time-consuming, but often results in the contaminated splatter being randomly flung from the cup onto the patient, the operator (e.g., the dentist, dental hygienist, or dental assistant), and the nearby equipment as a result of the cup not being completely stopped before being removed from within the patient's mouth or being prematurely started prior to being reinserted back into the patient's mouth.
As a result, problems still exist relating to the application of dentifrice preparation to a patient's teeth using an existing disposable prophy angle.
Accordingly, there is a need for a dental prophylaxis system that, inter alia, overcomes the significant shortcomings delineated hereinabove.